Part of our plan with the glass cabinets was to do in-cabinet lighting to give a nice glow to the kitchen. We picked up some puck lights at Lowes, since we wanted to try to use LED lighting instead of incandescent but unfortunately the cords that they provide are only about 2 feet long, so even wiring the cabinets above the sink would be a stretch. Ultimately, we picked up the IKEA Grundtal puck lights, since they have 11' cords on them, and allow for 6 lights to go to one power supply. The result was perfect.
I took a pencil and marked the center spine of each door along the top of the cabinet, carried that mark over to the underside of the top of the cabinet, and then measured 6 inches from the back of the cabinet so that all the lights would be on the same line. I then used the removable jacket from each light to mark my screw holes, drilled some starter holes for the screws, and attached the jackets. I then used a 3/8" bit to create a hole for each cord to be wired up through the top of the cabinet, so there are no cords in the cabinets themselves.
Then came the fun part. There was already a light above the sink previously, which we knew was attached to a switch by the door, so I used that to wire up an outlet above the cabinets, since the power supply for the lighting is plug-in. I'm not an electrician, so although I'm sure I could have spliced the wires from the power supply directly to the existing wiring, I thought it best to stick with what I know, despite how silly that may seem. With the outlet in place, I plugged in the power supply, hit the switch, and ta-da, the kitchen is now lit.
Our carpenter Randy should be calling this week with a quote on cutting the counter tops, adding crown moulding and adding a housing for the dishwasher. After that, the sink can be dropped in, and we're well on our way to a functioning kitchen!
